For the first time, researchers in Wisconsin are placing tiny solar-powered radio tags onto monarchs.
The post Wisconsin using new tracking technology to better understand monarch butterfly migration appeared first on WPR.
Districts transport students with disabilities every day under an Individualized Education Program (IEP). The cost recovery opportunities that supports those rides sit in several places at once: school-based Medicaid, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), state categorical aid and grant programs. Knowing which dollars apply, and holding the documentation to claim them, is where most operations lose ground.
In September 2026, Zonar and School Transportation News (STN) surveyed transportation professionals across the U.S. about how their districts fund and document specialized transportation.
Join Zonar and a panel of experts for an open conversation about where the money comes from, what districts document today and what gets missed along the way. Get direct insights from the perspective of consultants, district leaders and the staff who handle claiming.
What we’ll cover:
Brought to you by Zonar
REGISTER BELOW:
Featured speakers:
Rachel Trindade
Chief Marketing Officer
Zonar
With more than 25 years in marketing and 15+ years in logistics, Rachel has helped companies drive significant growth faster than industry norms. At Zonar, she leads marketing and demand generation.
Before joining Zonar, Rachel served as CMO at FlavorCloud and Extensiv, and led global marketing at Teletrac Navman (Vontier) across four continents. She holds a BBA from the University of Texas at Austin and has been recognized as a leading Woman in Supply Chain by Supply & Demand Chain Executive and named California’s Most Visionary Tech CMO by CEO Monthly.
Tim Ammon
Owner
Ammon Consulting Group
Tim Ammon has spent more than 25 years supporting transportation and fleet operations, working with more than 500 organizations across three countries. His work focuses on identifying opportunities to improve operational performance through process improvements, technology adoption, and personnel practices, consistently helping organizations bridge the gap between desired and actual performance.
Tim has also provided extensive professional development services in leadership and management, decision-making, organizational resilience, and cost and technical analysis. He holds a Master of Public Administration from American University and certifications in School Risk Management, Operational Risk Management, and Change Management.
Karen Thomas
Medicaid Coordinator
Leon County Schools
Karen Thomas handles Medicaid claiming for Leon County Schools in Tallahassee, Florida, where she manages the documentation behind every reimbursement the district submits for transporting students with disabilities. Her work covers pulling the daily records, matching each ride to the correct route and the correct student, then compiling the full file for submission.
She brings a ground-level view of what it takes to get funding for transporting students with disabilities, along with the tools and tricks that make her job easier.
The post (Free Webinar) The Cost Recovery Behind Transporting Students with Disabilities appeared first on School Transportation News.
Managing payroll for a school transportation department can involve complex schedules, changing assignments, driver time, and manual data entry. DeSoto County School District invested in dispatch and timekeeping software to make payroll more efficient, accurate, and manageable.
In this webinar, we’ll explore how modern payroll technology helps school districts streamline timekeeping, improve visibility into driver hours, and reduce the administrative burden associated with payroll processing. You’ll learn how connected transportation data can support better decision-making and more consistent day-to-day operations.
Designed for transportation directors, payroll teams, and school district leaders, this session will highlight practical considerations for evaluating payroll software and modernizing back-office workflows. Discover how the right technology can help your district save time, enhance efficiency, and build a stronger foundation for student transportation operations.
Brought to you by Bytecurve
REGISTER BELOW:
Speakers:
Jonathan Agenten
Director of Sales
Bytecurve
Jonathan Agenten works with school transportation organizations to connect operational challenges with Bytecurve and busHive solutions.
Levi Williams
Director of Transportation
DeSoto Public Schools
Levi Williams leads transportation at DeSoto Public Schools and will share firsthand perspective on the district’s move to modern payroll and connected transportation workflows, including the operational challenges, implementation experience, and outcomes that other school transportation leaders can relate to.
TBD
Payroll Specialist
DeSoto Public Schools
The post (Free Webinar) How DeSoto County Schools Simplified Transportation Payroll Operations appeared first on School Transportation News.
Law enforcement and city officials around the state are breaking ties with Flock Safety, citing an erosion of trust in how their traffic data is being used.
The post More than a dozen Wisconsin cities disable Flock cameras, cancel contracts appeared first on WPR.
In a first of its kind, STN EXPO West introduced a new session series focused on the use of artificial intelligence in school transportation. Held July 14, the track focused on AI in dispatch, personnel productivity, budgeting, fleet management, risk mitigation and bell schedules. Prior to the six breakout sessions, a general session “Beyond ChatGPT: The AI Revolution in Student Transportation,” consisted of all AI session speakers and served as an opening panel, helping transportation leaders cut through the hype to define what AI actually is—and isn’t—today.
Moderated by STN Editor-in-Chief Ryan Gray, the panel consisted of Richard Jimenez, director of transportation for Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District; Timothy Purvis of Pupil Transportation Information; GP Singh, the founder of Bytecurve and a strategic advisor to Transit Technologies after selling his company last year; and Rosalyn Vann-Jackson, Ph.D., the executive director of enrollment and student services for Broken Arrow Public Schools in Oklahoma and founder/CEO of Bloom Bigger Coaching.
The panel dissected AI’s transformative impact, referencing tools like ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Claude. It spotlighted Broken Arrow’s integration of AI for daily operations, policy analysis, comparative studies on sick leave and overtime (notably for special education aides), and public records requests.
Jimenez shared how AI use at Placentia-Yorba Linda streamlines compliance, special education (IEP/IDEA) processes, legal messaging to parents, and multi-services bid response summarization, reducing manual workloads and enhancing communication.
Tim Purvis, however warned of data exposure risks in field trip and alternative transportation bids, public records requests and contract reviews, reinforcing the “bad data in, bad data out” principle. He advocated for robust policies like Broken Arrow’s Vision and Mission.
Singh clarified that true AI synthesizes multi-source data for actionable insights, distinguishing it from mere automation and recommended retrieval augmented generation (RAG) for fact-based outputs. The panel outlined essential AI safeguards: Exclusive use of IT-approved and licensed tools, multi-factor authentication, and strict avoidance of uploading confidential or personally identifiable information.
The panelists detailed the many ways AI is being integrated into school transportation operations, from predictive maintenance, vehicle diagnostics, telematics, and fleet management to dispatch automation, field trip planning, attendance tracking, and master bell schedule optimization. They also highlighted applications in driver and employee performance, including driver coaching, behind-the-wheel assessments, accident analysis, training plan development, safety modules, and automated performance reviews.
Beyond daily operations, panelists described using AI to support budgeting, identify contract issues, research laws and regulations, analyze public documents and district-specific data, plan travel, develop parent communication templates, and even compare social media claims with more reliable information.
A recurring theme was the importance of “context engineering,” or providing AI tools with detailed, relevant instructions. Panelists recommended using prompts of roughly 300 words tailored to a district’s specific needs. They also encouraged gradual staff adoption, internal model training and continued human review to reduce errors and prevent AI-generated misinformation or “hallucinations.”
Survey data of 23 STN EXPO attendees found that 65 percent of respondents use AI at least occasionally or daily, with ChatGPT dominating use. Eighty-two percent of respondents are using it for writing emails/communications. Whereas 59 percent are using AI for customer/parent communication, 45 percent for policy or document drafting, 41 percent for training or onboarding materials. The percentage falls to 32 percent for data analysis and reporting. The lowest use cases are database/app development (14 percent) and routing/logistics support (9 percent). Plus, the survey found that most districts are still in “Wild West” mode with only 33 percent having formal organization-wide guidance and policies.Lack of training at 68 percent is the main driver for holding transportation employees back from using AI.
Cathy Whitney, transportation coordinator at Glenn County Office of Education in California, shared with School Transportation News after the conference that she is still new to use of AI. She said she doesn’t believe her organization has any policies or guidance on use cases.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how it can help and improve on what we’re already doing that may save time and save the funds for other needed items. It’s exciting to see how fast it’s growing and the things that it can do in a very short time,” she added.
However, her biggest fear is getting the wrong information and using it in a report or a way that presents false information. “When I was at the STN [EXPO] conference, they kept saying check and make sure that the information is correct. We already do that in our regular lives every day,” Whitney added. “I think a lot of people are unsure or aren’t good with change and [fear] that AI is going to take jobs away from other people. I think they would have to see the positive side and see how it helps them in their lives and jobs to save time.”
Her takeaway from the sessions was to learn more about AI. “I want to create and gather data by putting information into AI that would [normally] take me hours to do and have it create it in a very short time. I look forward to a future with AI in it,” she concluded.
Meanwhile, Keba Baldwin, the director of transportation and central garage for Prince George’s County Schools in Maryland, shared on the School Transportation Nation podcast that his district has adopted AI policies and is cautious about its AI use cases. He said transportation is unable to use ChatGPT or Claude because they don’t meet the district’s security standards.
In a year’s time, PGCPS has expanded from using AI for help crafting emails to now analyzing data. “I’m thankful it’s helping to cut some of our workload in half,” he said on Episode 319. “But the technology is still developing, and we just want to keep up with it.”
When navigating vendors who say they have AI integrated into their technology suites, Baldwin advised asking the right questions. “At the end of the day, I need to know if their infrastructure can align with my infrastructure to get us the outcome,” he said, adding that some companies might not even meet the district security measures, and student transporters should be aware of that.
“How much time it’s going to take to implement? What’s the customer care on that? Can I call you 24/7?” he said of some other questions to ask. Additionally, he said technology demos are great but remain at surface level. When implementing new technology, he advised directors to get into the weeds of the offerings.
Editor’s Note: As reprinted from the September 2026 issue of School Transportation News.
Related: District Says ‘No Looking Back’ After Using Artificial Intelligence Routing System
Related: School Bus Maintenance Process Recommendations Influenced by Technology
Related: An Autonomous Near-Future? ‘AI’ Think So
Related: Is Safety Everyone’s Responsibility?
The post AI Takes a Larger Role in School Transportation Management appeared first on School Transportation News.
State officials can’t spend billions in federal funding to connect remote areas to the internet until the Trump administration provides information on how to use the money.
The post Federal delays are holding up $21B for rural internet projects, as states wait for guidance appeared first on WPR.
A Wisconsin utility company and a Madison startup announced a partnership Wednesday that could bring one of the nation's first large-scale fusion power plants to the Badger State.
The post Madison utility, Realta Fusion partnering to bring fusion power plant to Wisconsin appeared first on WPR.
The September issue explores how technology is reshaping school transportation, from AI and connected tools to video systems, routing and communications. Learn how Allentown School District is using technology to improve safety and operations, hear from Los Angeles Unified School District’s new superintendent on transportation’s role in student access and discover how districts are navigating the shift to cloud-based video storage. Plus, get practical insights on implementing AI with guardrails and using technology to support drivers and transportation teams.
Read the full September issue.
Cover Story
Tech Focused
Student transportation leaders at Pennsylvania’s Allentown School District are turning connected tools into safer service and operational gains, using technology to improve communication, efficiency and the student experience.
Features
The Video Storage Shift
As school bus camera systems become more sophisticated, districts are weighing cloud, local and hybrid storage options while balancing accessibility, cost, cybersecurity and student privacy.
Driver Training Goes High-Tech
Technology is changing how transportation departments approach driver training, coaching, safety and performance.
Improving Communications With Technology
New technology is giving transportation teams more ways to communicate with drivers, families and administrators while improving visibility and service.
Special Report
AI Takes a Larger Role in School Transportation Management
Transportation leaders explore how AI can support dispatch, fleet management, budgeting, driver training and other operations while emphasizing policies, safeguards and responsible use.
Q&A
Transportation’s True Value
Los Angeles Unified School District’s new superintendent discusses transportation’s role in student access, educational opportunity, operational efficiency and student success.
Columns
Editor’s Take by Ryan Gray
Don’t Bury the ‘Lede’
Publisher’s Corner by Tony Corpin
School is Back, So Are Safety Risks
Thought Leader By Tim Ammon
Changing Times, Perspectives
The post September 2026 appeared first on School Transportation News.
Earlier this year, Zonar and School Transportation News surveyed transportation professionals across the United States to document the pressures shaping fleets today and where leaders are investing next. The result is the most comprehensive look at student transportation challenges, safety priorities and 2026 technology plans available today.
Inside the report:
Download the complimentary report to see how your fleet compares.
Fill out the form below and then check your email to get the report.
The post (Free White Paper) 2026 State of Student Transportation Report appeared first on School Transportation News.
In Churchill County School District in Fallon, Nevada, the value of Transfinder’s transportation management system looks different depending on where you sit.
For Transportation Director Austin Metz, it is about managing routes, serving approximately 1,300 students and finding practical ways to make a complex operation easier to manage. For transportation trainer Scotty Grenamyer, it is about something more immediate: being able to learn the system quickly, use it every day and give drivers and parents better information.
From both vantage points, the conclusion is remarkably similar.
“I wouldn’t change it,” Metz said. “I’m happy with what I’ve got and for the value it can’t be beat.”
Churchill County operates 17 routes and uses Transfinder’s transportation technology to help manage its operation. Metz said the district uses the award-winning Routefinder PLUS, parent app Stopfinder and Tripfinder to manage field trips. It also has Viewfinder for a deeper look at the transportation department’s transportation operation.
Each of the solutions help address everything from daily routing to field trips and parent communication.
For Metz, Stopfinder has been particularly valuable from the parent perspective.
“Stopfinder has been a great solution for our parents,” he said. “It’s very user friendly and our parents really enjoy being able to see where buses are in real time, set those GeoAlerts and contact us at the click of a button.”
That visibility can also translate into fewer questions for transportation staff.
Grenamyer, who works directly with drivers and transportation operations, sees the same benefit from a different perspective.
“Stopfinder has been really good,” he said. “I mean, I haven’t had any issue with it.”
More importantly, he said, Stopfinder has changed the parents’ experience.
“Very much so, yes,” Grenamyer said when asked whether Stopfinder had reduced calls from parents and improved communications. “It’s made it much easier.”
He added that parents appreciate knowing what is happening with their children during the school day.
“The parents love to be able to see that we’ve gotten their kids, picked them up and that that we made it to the school and dropped them off.”
Behind that parent-facing experience is the district’s routing operation. Metz said Routefinder PLUS offers the flexibility needed when circumstances change.
“It’s great,” he said, noting that once he learned the system, “there’s a world of possibilities and abilities to add, alter, absorb routes, it’s great.”
That flexibility proved especially useful when Churchill County needed to combine routes.
“We’ve had to combine routes once, and Routefinder made it extremely easy to just create a new trip, move those stops where they need to be, and send that information out to parents at the click of a button,” Metz said.
Grenamyer’s experience illustrates another important piece of the equation: usability.
As a transportation trainer, he works with the people who have to use the system in the real world. He said he was able to get comfortable with it relatively quickly.
“I got it like really quick,” he added. “Took me just a couple weeks to figure it out and I’ve been using it every day for my reports, routing, everything.”
For a transportation department, that ease of use can matter as much as the technology itself. A powerful system has to work for the people sitting behind the transportation desk as well as the people behind the wheel.
Churchill County also uses Tripfinder for field trips and activity trips. Metz said the product helps the district manage drivers, mileage and billing from a centralized dashboard.
“It allows us to track our drivers, track our mileage, and create invoices right from the dashboard,” he said. “And it makes it super simple for anyone that has to step into that role.”
Grenamyer has also found value in Transfinder’s support and learning resources. He said Transfinder Community, Transfinder’s portal featuring guides, videos, webinars, training sessions and more – has helped him continue building his knowledge of the system.
“I love that you guys have got that Community system where you can go and learn and do courses. I’m halfway through with it right now and I’m getting certifications,” he said.
When he hit a roadblock with PLUS, support was readily available.
“They walked me through it and then they actually even designed it where I could use it directly, have my own tabs for certain reports I want to run to automatically give me a 60-day warning.”
For Churchill County, the technology is not simply about routing buses. It is about giving transportation leaders flexibility, giving trainers usable tools, giving parents information and giving the district a system that can adapt as needs change.
Metz’s assessment of Transfinder’s technology is straightforward.
“I wouldn’t change it.”
And from the driver’s training side, Grenamyer offers an equally direct endorsement of support:
“I enjoy it and I love that they are very friendly and helpful.”
For a school transportation operation looking for technology that combines functionality, usability and value, Churchill County’s experience offers a compelling perspective—from the transportation director’s office to the people working with drivers every day.
Discover more on “From Driver-Trainer to Transportation Director” from Austin Metz in his own words.
To learn more about the STN Expo 2026 Innovation Choice Awards: award-winning Best Hardware, Best Software, Best Safety Technology, and Best Green Technology leveraged by Churchill County School District, visit www.transfinder.com, email solutions@transfinder.com or call 800-373-3609.
The views expressed are those of the content sponsor and do not reflect those of School Transportation News.
The post From the Director’s Desk to the Driver’s Seat: Transfinder Delivers Results appeared first on School Transportation News.
Student safety depends on buses that start every morning and perform reliably every mile. But reactive maintenance (fixing buses only after they fail) puts your fleet at risk of breakdowns, delays and potentially dangerous roadside emergencies.
This guide offers a framework for shifting from costly “break-fix” repairs to a predictive, data-driven maintenance strategy that helps you catch problems before they jeopardize student safety.
Inside, you will learn why traditional maintenance falls short and how aging fleets create hidden risks that reactive programs often miss.
Download this guide if your district is ready to stop reacting to failures and start preventing them, so every student you transport rides on a safer school bus.
Fill out the form below and then check your email to access the predictive maintenance guide.
The post (Free White Paper) How To Make Maintenance Your School Bus Operation’s Safety Advantage appeared first on School Transportation News.
When bus surveillance footage is difficult to access or unreliable, transportation teams lose valuable time resolving incidents and supporting drivers. Read how one Washington school district improved efficiency with REI’s ARMOR
Software Suite. Michael Dofelmire, transportation specialist at Fife Public Schools, discusses its impact.
REI: What prompted you to look for a solution like ARMOR?
Dofelmire: We had a very old [camera] system with a lot of problems. We would pull hard drives and they wouldn’t work, they’d be corrupt. The cameras wouldn’t work. Overall, we weren’t getting quality out of our systems. We also had only two cameras in every bus. One in the front and one in the back. With those cameras and the newer high-back seats, you couldn’t see among the seats. Kids would sneak down, and you couldn’t see them. That pushed us to get a newer camera system. We chose REI due to all the features and what it had in the background, including ARMOR.
REI: What do you like most?
Dofelmire: The quality and how everything is a cloud-based service so anybody can log in depending on how it’s set up. We have it set to where incident video is automatically downloaded before the driver even gets back, so they can view it quickly. Each person can download and see their own videos. That’s huge for [drivers] to have that access and flexibility. Saves a lot of time.
REI: How has ARMOR helped you resolve events faster?
Dofelmire: Being able to track things immediately. It’s set up so that when drivers press their panic buttons, my supervisor and I automatically receive text messages. [ARMOR] automatically flags the video, downloads it and does all the amazing work that it does.
REI: How has it simplified your job?
Dofelmire: We’ve had vaping on the bus and situations where a driver wonders what’s going on. We’re able to see live into the bus, look at that seat and catch the kids doing something right then and there. By the time the driver gets back, we’ve done the paperwork on writing those kids up and disciplining them. It has really streamlined the process.
REI: What’s the most significant change?
Dofelmire: The GPS, knowing where the buses are, and having access to the video almost instantly once it downloads. It’s very quick to send a video link to a principal through e-mail.
REI: What’s the feedback on ARMOR?
Dofelmire: Really good. Drivers love being able to download and watch the video themselves. Principals love it. [Incidents] can be dealt with that night versus tomorrow. It streamlines everything, definitely a game changer.
The ARMOR advantage is simple: stronger student safety, better driver support and streamlined daily operations. Let’s discuss all the ways ARMOR’s automated fleet management tools and REI camera systems can help your team save time and work smarter. Watch the demo, then send us a message, call 800.228.9275 or contact your REI sales rep.
Requires additional hardware and specific cellular/data plans. Ask for details.
The views expressed are those of the content sponsor and do not reflect those of School Transportation News.
The post Work Smarter, Not Harder: The ARMOR Advantage in Fleet Management appeared first on School Transportation News.
A settlement announced yesterday between the social media giant Meta and dozens of states will lead to Meta paying billions of dollars, including more than $200 million to Wisconsin, and setting new protections for users under 18. A child development specialist provides tips for parents seeking to improve their children’s relationship with social media.
The post Meta settlement ‘step in the right direction’ according to Wisconsin child development specialist appeared first on WPR.
A near total lunar eclipse will cast an orange glow showing off the moon’s craters and details. At its peak --- which is expected at 11:12 p.m. Thursday --- 96 percent of the moon will be covered by the Earth’s shadow. The event known as the blood moon will be visible throughout Wisconsin, as long as the skies stay clear.
The post Near total lunar eclipse will be visible in Wisconsin appeared first on WPR.
Meta agreed Wednesday to pay $17 billion and add stronger child-safety measures to its Facebook and Instagram platforms as part of a landmark legal settlement that ended a trial over teen social media addiction and settled claims filed by 47 states.
Wisconsin would receive at least $219 million and up to $313 million if conditions involving other social media companies are met, through what state Attorney General Josh Kaul called the “largest Big Tech settlement in the history of the country.”
The settlement resolved a pivotal case years in the making that sought to hold the tech giant accountable for the role its platforms played in undermining children’s mental health. The effort targeted features designed to hook young people’s attention.
“For years, Meta intentionally deceived the public about the addictive and harmful design features that have wreaked havoc on youth mental health,” Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones said. The settlement “will put an end to these dangerous practices and deliver meaningful relief that will protect children from online harm.”
“This resolution provides for several changes that prioritize kids’ well-being over Meta’s profits — as it should have been all along,” Kaul said in a statement. “This is a monumental step in changing the role of social media in kids’ lives for the better.”
Speaking at a Wednesday press conference, Kaul listed a variety of potential uses for the money, including school district grants for mental health programs, youth crisis intervention, after-school programs, digital wellness instruction or training for medical providers on the effects of interactive media use and body dysmorphia.
If approved by the court, the deal will stop an avalanche of litigation by states against Meta, although the company still faces lawsuits from individuals and school districts across the U.S. For the states, the settlement delivers money for programs to benefit kids’ mental health, including after-school or summer activities and digital literacy counselors.
Advocates cheered the new protections, including default time limits and the disabling of features such as “like” counts.
But “we cannot truly protect all children and teens until these protections are required on every platform and are permanent — that’s something only Congress can do,” said Sacha Haworth, executive director of The Tech Oversight Project.
The settlement also includes payments resolving claims arising from Meta’s sharing of nonpublic Facebook user information with third parties, including Cambridge Analytica, ahead of the 2016 election.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the money would be paid out over 10 years, with the state getting at least $1.5 billion. New Jersey expects to receive at least $525 million. Massachusetts said it was in line for at least $366 million. Virginia’s share is worth $353 million.
Meta said in a blog post that it was “building on our longstanding efforts to empower parents and support teens.”
“Ensuring teens have a safe and productive experience on our platforms is an absolute imperative for Meta,” the company said. “We want to get this right for parents and teens, and that’s why we partnered with state attorneys general to set a new industry standard.”
The company urged rivals TikTok and YouTube to adopt similar safety measures.
The $17 billion settlement is a fraction of Meta’s 2025 revenue of $201 billion.
The agreement cuts short an ongoing court case involving California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey, which were among 29 states that sued Meta in 2023. CEO Mark Zuckerberg was among those expected to take the stand before a jury in federal court in California.
The lawsuit accused Meta of contributing to the youth mental health crisis by deliberately designing features that addict children to its platforms and hiding them from the public. The case also argued that Meta violated federal laws by routinely collecting data on children under 13 without their parents’ consent.
The trial kicked off last week in Oakland, California, with U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers overseeing the proceedings. Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, began his testimony late Tuesday and defended Meta’s record and progress on child safety and privacy.
The cases in other states had been expected to go to trial later. In addition, nine attorneys general filed lawsuits in their respective states.
Under the proposed settlement, Meta agreed to adopt a series of safety features, including a “hard cap” on daily time limits and pauses for children using Instagram and Facebook.
It will eliminate push notifications during weekday school hours and bring in “robust” age-assurance measures and “age-appropriate” content controls to prevent bullying and harmful material about eating disorders and self-harm.
There will be stronger and more user-friendly parental controls and limits on social comparison features such as “like” counts.
An independent auditor will assess how Meta is implementing the safety features and how effective they are.
Meta put the settlement at $18 billion, a figure that apparently includes a large award for Texas.
The company said 30% of that amount — about $5.3 billion — will be released to states only if rivals YouTube and TikTok meet two conditions: implementing similar safety features, including a one-hour daily time limit, a nighttime block and age-assurance measures; and paying the same amount, split between the two companies.
Neither YouTube owner Google nor TikTok responded immediately to requests for comments.
The federal lawsuit was the result of an investigation led by a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general. It followed newspaper reports, first by The Wall Street Journal in 2021, that found that the company knew about the harm Instagram can cause teenagers — especially teen girls — when it comes to mental health and body image issues.
Meta has since added a host of safety features to Instagram, including separate accounts for teenagers with stronger protections around messaging and privacy, along with content restrictions.
But child safety experts, along with some former Meta employees, have long contended that the features are little more than window dressing.
Arturo Béjar, a former Meta engineering director, said during his testimony last week that Meta consistently prioritized profits over safety in designing its products, focusing on how often and for how long people used them, even if it was detrimental to their mental well-being.
“If you step away from the product, they are not going to make any money,” he said.
While the four states in the Oakland trial did not officially say how much they had been seeking, Meta said in a court filing that financial penalties in the case could amount to as much as $1.4 trillion — a figure legal experts said was unlikely, if not impossible.
Jim Malewitz of Wisconsin Watch contributed reporting.
Wisconsin to receive up to $313 million in landmark Meta settlement is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.
Some Kenosha area residents are pushing for local officials to enact a data center moratorium to pause a proposed Microsoft data center development there.
The post Kenosha area residents push for data center moratorium to pause proposed Microsoft development appeared first on WPR.
A piece in STAT News shows the Verona-based health records company is facing lawsuits and investigations by state and federal agencies for alleged anticompetitive practices.
The post Dane County’s Epic Systems is under scrutiny by state and federal agencies appeared first on WPR.
A new personalized vaccine given in combination with another drug has reduced the chances of a type of skin cancer returning in patients in a clinical trial. A Wisconsin oncologist talks about this breakthrough and its implications for promising cancer research underway in the state.
The post Wisconsin doctor responds to ‘breakthrough trial’ of new cancer vaccine appeared first on WPR.
A number of Wisconsin communities — recently UW-Madison and Stoughton — have cancelled their contracts with Flock in response to community privacy concerns and cases of police misuse.
The post Green Bay police audit Flock data, suspend sharing in response to privacy concern appeared first on WPR.
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